The Brewing Trouble Between Iran and Iraq will Definitely Crunch the Philippine Economy
Posted on Monday, 11 January 2016
The
Brewing Trouble between Iran and Iraq
Will
Definitely Crunch the Philippine Economy
By Apolinario Villalobos
A statistician’s mind is not needed to
understand the negative effect of the trouble between Iran and Iraq to the
Philippine economy which is founded on her export of labor to other countries,
especially, the Middle East. Even a simple pedestrian will not think deeply
what the OFW Filipinos will do in beleaguered Iran and Iraq now that they are
at war with each other. Rather than be trapped, they will of course come home -
back to joblessness. Worse, the government has not even decided on putting a
stop, albeit, temporarily to deployment of OFWs to those countries. As usual,
the government waits until the situation becomes uncontrollable and millions
will be spent again for the hasty evacuations, and for failures, expect
finger-pointing….again.
The government is inutile such that it has
not come up with fallback programs for situations like this. What OWWA offers
as its livelihood program in the form of loan is not reliable. A success story
from this venture is yet to be heard or read or viewed.
The agriculture sector which should have
been given attention very long time ago yet, is practically gasping for breath.
Literally, it is dying, as the once rice and corn fields are converted now into
golf courses and subdivisions. Had these lands been preserved, they could have
been used as fallbacks for displaced OFWs. In the first place, the reason why
they left the country is to seek a greener pasture, as they say, because they
are exploited by loan sharks that control the price of their farm products.
This fact is known even by a high school student. Why can’t the appropriate
government agency or agencies do something about this problem?
Self-reliance in agriculture has never been
in the priority list of the government. A very clear manifestation of this
negligence is the unabated importation of agricultural products from other
countries. And, the situation is aggravated by smuggling that further chokes
the local farmers. There is no effort in improving the agricultural products
such as vegetables and rice to make them competitive with those from other
countries. Ironically, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) the
cradle of knowledge for high-tech rice production is located in the
Philippines, particularly, Los Baἧos, Laguna, where rice technicians of other
countries learn the rudiments of high-tech rice farming. Yet, the Philippines
imports rice from the countries of these foreign scientists!
Trading as a gainful venture in the country
is left in the hands of foreign businessmen whose stalls cram the mushrooming
malls. What is left to the Filipinos are the “bilao and bangketa” business, in
which merchandise are patiently arranged in piles in the round bamboo winnower
and sidewalk, or the “sari-sari store”, a hole-on-the-wall “grocery”. And, this
is what the OWWA expects the displaced OFWs would do with their pittance
capital that it loans to them.
It is a shame that despite the availability
of funds that were exposed to have been just pocketed by the corrupt in the
government, the Filipinos are left with nothing, especially, for the so-called
new heroes of Philippine economy, the OFWs.
Expect again the Philippine government to
promise labor contracts sought from other “safe” countries…but for how long
will this exportation of labor go on? Why can’t the government do something
about the home-based industries and revive agriculture which was the country’s
primary revenue earner? Is corruption blocking the way?....your answer is good
as mine!
Discussion